Hello
- My name is Allison Grodin
and I am currently a Senior
in high school. As part of my
class load this year, I have
decided to do an independent
study regarding the unity of
the feminist movement of the
1960s and 1970s. This requires
an indepth look into racial
and religious barriers and beliefs
that affected the unity and
outcome of the movement. I am
very interested in any information
that you could provide and would
love to get the name of contacts
that I may be able to interview.
I really hope that you can help
point me in the right direction.
Thank you, Allison

Thanks
for your note to FEMINIST.COM--and
you have certainly chosen quite
a broad topic for your study.
To learn more about racial and
religious barriers within feminism
in the 1960s and the 1970s,
there are a few things I think
you should keep in mind in general,
and then a few specifics you
should pursue.

Some parts of the Second Wave
of feminism--i.e. the feminism
of the 60s and the 70s--grew
directly out of the civil rights
and black powerments. There
were two main reactions--one
was white women who had been
active in these movements for
racial equality, but who were
now being pushed out in favor
of a more racially unified front.
The other was black women who
had been working in these same
movements, but were fed up with
making the coffee, folding all
the mailings and not attaining
leadership positions. So these
two groups--for different reasons--came
to the women's movement. (White
women include: Dorothy Zinberg,
Florence Howe, Black Women include:
Angela Davis, and Elaine Brown.)

As for religious--there was
a very conservative religious
movement gaining ground in the
mid-to-late sixties--this was
the beginning of what is today
the radical right women. They
are Christians--extreminists
by definition--and don't believe
that God created women to be
equal.

Separately, on the religious
front, many women by the early
1970s--were breaking open previously
all male occupations. They were
becoming Rabbis, Episcopal priests,
etc....

I'm note sure if any of this
information if leading anywhere
or if it's helpful, but that
should be a start. Good luck.